Grumpy

Thanks for the responce guys, with the Volvo like any flat bed truck the engine is quite visable from the rear, I think we'll just NATO the lot and see what happens (along with some good primer). I was under the impression that the Sky Blue was only used on any Army reconditioned engines, with new one's from RR or LR etc. being the usual factory black. :dunno: The B81 thats in our MK II Stolly was a new engine straight out of the crate from RR, it even had the factory Dyno sheet with it and thats just finished in the gloss black paint. Neil unfortunately you are the wrong end of the country from us so I would suspect it would work out quite expensive, we generally only get about 12 to 15 mpg with a Stolly on the back. If you were traveling up to the Midlands I'm sure we could sort something out. I dread to add up the amount of fuel has gone though the Stolly whilst in my ownership, its the main reason we got the Volvo and to be honest with doing a few jobs here and there for other MV owners it tends to nearly pay for itsself. Only just read about the Salisbury meet, sounds very tempting, if the Stolly's finished I think we may show our faces, if its not we could always take a slow ride down in the Militant :-D

The bed on the truck sits @ 4 foot although we have a bit of adjustment with the air suspension, we bought a Brockhouse from Withams last month and we sat @ 14 foot overall, luckily the only low bridge on the way back was 15 foot. Is the trailer towable?

Hi What do you need to move? If its 11 ton or less I may be able to help

Not sure if this is in the right section :dunno: We have an 18 ton Volvo FL10 bearver tail truck that we use to cart various MV's around with. Currently its a dirty blue colour and looks a bit rough http://scott.morris8.users.btopenworld.com/Pics/HMVF/Volvo/DSC00347.jpg[/img] We are thinking of getting it shot blasted, primed and then a good coat of NATO, currently all the underside, running gear and engine is just coated with the same chassis paint, will NATO be head resistant enough for things like the engine, gearbox, axles etc?

Happy birthday mate, hope you had a good un last night :-D

Now thats a blast from the past - you just cant get liquor gravy in the Midlands :banghead:

Clive Many thanks for the info on the brakes, most appreacted :bow:

:bow:

Theres one up here in the Midlands, might be a bit far tho :dunno:

It just went in the Gunk tank, make sure you blow it all out with an air line afterwards to remove all of the residue and lube it up with OM13, dont use any form of solvent just in case it attacks any of the switch components.

Neil It sounds like the shuttle valve is sticking and holding air pressure on the switch. I had the same problem on mine, took the switch apart (air and switch side) cleaned out all the crud (there was lots in the air side) lubed it up & put it back together and it worked ok :clap: I am sure there was gauze filter's in there but its been about 8 years since and I've been to bed since :dunno: I had a look at mine last night and the electrical connections are pointing down but I don't think it makes any difference. It is quite a common fault on a Stolly and I am sure I will be taking mine apart again soon once she is up and running again :banghead: If you do take the end hull cover plate off let us know what goodies you find, there should be at least a couple of spanners down there :-D

Neil Just seen the thread on the Fort, its a lot easier to get at the stop light switch though the rear hull cover plate. First remove the 101 1/4" bolts from around the perimeter of the cover plate, Place a jack and length of wood under the NATO hitch and only just take up the slack. Remove the four big long bolts that hold the cover plate in place, it cant go anywhere because of the pegs on the hull at the bottom and the jack. Get someone to hold the bottom of the plate on the pegs with their boot while you lower the jack. (You might have to give it a bit of a tap with a hammer and screwdriver to break the seal if it hasn't been off in a while) As you lower the jack the top will hinge down with the bottom on the pegs, lower just enough to get your hands in and just lift off the pegs, one person either side is best but if can be lifted by one person if your feeling strong. Fitting is reverse but smear a bit of grease on the seal Once the plate is off get yourself a beer crate to sit on and poke your head up inside the hull, the switch is there on the left with lots of room to get at it (lots of room in Stalwart terms :-D) Be a bit carefull when undo to pipes (remember to drain the air out of the system first) as they can twist on the flare nuts, you can clean out the bilge pump filter while you are there. Have fun

Neil Did you take the switch apart in situ, I think from memory there are gauze filters in the housing where the pipes fit. As a quick fix you could just put a microswitch and spring on the brake pedal and wire it back.

Well done Allen, the best way to learn is to get on with, its sounds like you have got lots of support from family & friends. Keep up the good work, there will be lots of highs and lows but its worth it, if only for the experience. Best of luck with your project :tup:

I've got my insurance with Footman James http://www.footmanjames.co.uk/ When you call ask for Richard in the specialest department, always a very helpfull chap. :tup:

Now theres an idea, another hobby of mine is building Valve Hi Fi equipment, now how can I combine that with big green stuff :whistle:

We usually bid on line no problems, just fill in the form and press submit, only problem is sometimes you end up with six sankey wide tracks :roll: (and yes I know GKN didn't make any wide tracks - thanks Clive :bow:) The only thing you cant do on line is conditional bid, that needs to be done on paper, but you can fax it over instead of posting, if you do want to place conditional bids its always wise to call Paul and ask first just in case. As said earlier some of the items belong to Withams that were bought at Government auctions (not open to the public) and some items belong to the Government (not just the MOD). All will have a reserve price which will be either set by Withams or the Government. The reserve price is usually quite low, but remember the scrap value is quite high at the moment. Around here you can get £90 per ton for heavy and around £150 per ton for armored stuff, so if you think you can buy a 432 for £500 forget it because its worth over £2000 in scrap. If you are very close to the reserve Withams will usually call and ask if you want to up your bid slightly to secure the item. If you didn't win something and the results show a lower winning bid than you placed just give them a call, in our experience they are really nice people that will go out of their way to help you even if you are not a a dealer spending 10's of £1000's with them

Quite a few set on fire because dimwits kept leaving the handbrake on, the brake bands are low in the hull with all the oil & crud right next to the fuel tank :schocked: As far as sinking, that takes some doing (don't ask how I know), if all the pre-swim checks are done and the bilge pumps are working they swim fine, trying to get them out on a muddy bank is a diffrent story. Another problem is that Alvis reccomended that when swimming the payload was to be reduced from 5 ton to 3 ton, however this information appears nowhere in the driver's handbook

Now thats interesting, with outriggers like that do I take it that something big pops out of the roof :naughty: - are those air conditioning condensing units on the back? Radio? Radar?

Pulling it is easy, one rope and virtually anything van size will do, now turning it, stopping it on a hill or even getting it to go in the direction you want is a totally diffrent matter, without a solid bar or preferably an A bar and something with a bit of mass is just asking for trouble. :-o A 432 can make a nasty mess of someone or something very quickly

Now that I like :-D

Now thats very close, but the draw bar is slightly diffrent and the battery / side lockers are not quite so promidant on ours, pretty sure its Brockhouse on the data plate, should we picking it up early next week (before the tax runs out on the truck ) so will post the details. Neil you don't need to get rid of the caravan, most of the insides can be reused fitting out your Brockhouse, and the shell can then be used as stores, problem solved :whistle:

You know the one where you wonder how much of the house keeping has gone on green stuff. :whistle: Luckily only one lot this time - one of these: http://scott.morris8.users.btopenworld.com/Pics/HMVF/lot222.jpg[/img]

I've got an Aston Martin that was registered in March 1973, took me ages to get the build sheet from Aston only to find it dated January 1973

Poptop and me will be there :-D But John you know my real name